Baby steps

Little sis has reached a first-stumbly-steps milestone (gait ranging from John Wayne to Zombie) and I have enjoyed the excuse to hit the shops. Although spending proper money in proper shops is often out of my comfort zone (when you know you could pay a smidgen of the price in a charity shop/ at a jumble sale/on ebay) children's shoes fall into a different category. Some kind of deep seated fear that I will damage her feet forever if they are not encased in Properly Fitted new shoes from a sensible source...

Thank goodness for Clarks Outlet stores. Ginger's feet have been clad, since he hit Zombie stage, in shoes from their Seven Sisters Rd store in London. Now we've gone all home counties Bicester Village is the nearest - dangerous since 'outlet shopping' at least implies money saving but the brands here are mainly pretty high end and their slashed priced goods are still beyond reach. Anyway, Clarks is Clarks... complete with sensible shoe fitters and fairly sensible prices (especially with the 25%+ discounts). Little Sis is now proudly stomping around in her First Proper Shoes :)


Before these we had quite a collection of beautiful baby girl shoes we'd been given, the vast majority of which would not stay on. What is the point? The only variety that reliably do are those soft leather ones with elasticated ankles. The big brands like Bobux cost almost £20 a pair but I discovered a wonderful company called Twinkle Toes Shoes who sell similar for £3.99. I love Ruby Red, but Spotty Dotty are great for matching pretty much anything.